the other will involve active
measures, he should not hesitate for a moment.

He will make choice of that which will compel him to exhibit physical
activity.

It is, however, important that manifestation of purposeless energy
should be rigidly represt. They are always harmful to one's equilibrium
and to the qualities needed for the attainment of poise.

One should never forget the well-known proverb:

"Speech is silver, but silence is golden."

Silence, in a vast number of instances, is the indisputable proof of the
empire that one has over oneself.

To be able to keep quiet and to close one's lips until the moment when
reflection has enabled us to discipline our too-violent emotions, is a
quality that belongs only to those who have obtained the mastery over
themselves.

The weak become excited, indulge in protests, and expend themselves in
angry denunciations that use up the energy they should retain for active
measures.

The man of resolution is most careful not to allow it to be known at
what point he has been wounded. He keeps silence and reflects.

Resolves form within his mind and, when he at last is ready to speak, it
is to utter some firm decision or to put forward arguments that are
unanswerable.

To tell the truth, those who instantly and noisily voice their
antagonisms, who, under the sting of a hurt to their vanity indulge in
threats of violence, are actually dangerous.

Their accusations, dictated by anger and heightened by the sense of
their own inferiority, are always characterized by impotence.

They make people smile, provoke perhaps a little pity, but never cause
any fear.

They are like the toy guns of children, which have the air of being most
deadly weapons, but which are constructed of such fragile materials that
a vigorous blow will cause them to fall to pieces.

The self-control of the man of resolution in the face of insult and
provocation is far more impressive than these idle threats.

His silence is ominous. It is a sort of mechanical calm which produces
decisions from which all passion is excluded.

His answers, well thought out and adapted exactly to the circumstances
of the case, impress one by their coldness and by their tone of
finality. His words are always followed by deeds, and are the more
weighty for the fact that one knows that they are merely preliminary to
the actions that they foretell.

This is one of the marked advantages of those who possess poise, one